Teaching Vocabulary and Grammar

Some people think it's better for a child to more focus on learning vocabulary rather than grammar because grammar is too complicated. In other ways, some people think that grammar is more important rather than vocabulary because it's complicated. Therefore, it's better to teach them at a young age, they will more easily absorb the knowledge and adapt to using grammar. So, eventually, when they grow up they will be familiar with using grammar and can overcome the obstacles in using grammar. But, the fact is, vocabulary and grammar are interdependent. When learning English, it is important to understand the complex interaction between vocabulary and grammar which will help the learners to be fluent in spoken and written skills. It is basically because both of them are stored together in the mental lexicon in typical combination rather than in isolation. Therefore, they should be learned together. For the young learner, when they pick up new words, they might be able to recognize a vocabulary item without knowing the exact meaning which will make it not easy for them to remember and use the word later. That's why they have to learn vocabulary and grammar holistically. Then, only when they grow older and begin to show interest in language analysis, can separation begin with powerful tools of analysis while they continue to learn from rich input (concept ideas).

The Language Development Of Typical English Speaking Child

• 6 Weeks  => Cooing
• 3-6 Months => Babbling
• 7-10 Months => Intonation patterns
• 11-15 Months => Single words
• 16-20 Months => Two-word utterances, simple negatives, and simple questions
• 21-23 Months => Three-word utterances
• 2 Years => Inflections (word endings)
• 3 - 8 Years => Adult-type; negatives, questions, inflections
• 9-10 > Years => Adult type grammar

Grammar is necessary to express precise meaning in discourse and it ties closely into vocabulary in learning . Learning grammar can evolve from the learning of chunks of language. When teaching grammar to young learners we can try to talk about something meaningful with the child. Because it can be a useful way to introduce new grammar and it can be taught without technical labels. There are typically three ways of teaching grammar, the first is noticing such as listen and notice, presentation of a new language with puppets. The second is structuring such as questionnaires, surveys, and quizzes, information gap activities, helping hands, drills, and chants. The last one is proceduralizing such as polar animal description re-visited, and dictogloss. When teaching vocabulary to the young learner, the teacher can implement real-life learning through introduces them to things that they can see, feel, play with, touch, and experience every day. 

Techniques of teaching grammar for the young learners

• Presenting the grammatical structure in a child's context with humor (jokes).
• Rhymes and poems
• Songs and chants
• Storytelling
• Total Physical Response

When learning vocabulary and grammar it is natural for the young learner to make mistakes and acquire grammatical forms only partially at first. It because they have to be able to see the relationship between form and function. That's why teachers need to be more focused on recycling and guidance in attending to language form. Through, recycling and revising both vocabulary and structures are important in the TEYL  classroom and they offer natural opportunities to integrate the language skills.

Resources:

https://abclearningcenterfl.com/8-beneficial-things-children-learn-preschool/

https://en.ppt-online.org/450732